Design, Fabrication and Test of an ITER ECH RF Load

The electron cyclotron (EC) heating & current drive (H&CD) system on ITER provides plasma heating by generating, transmitting, and launching high-intensity, high-frequency (170 GHz) electromagnetic wave energy steerable across the plasma cross-section. The EC system requires up to 80 Radio Frequency (RF) loads capable of 0.96 MW input power at a frequency of 170±0.3 GHz for 10 s [1], [2], for these requirements a RF load has been developed. Detailed finite element analysis has been used to verify the thermal-mechanical performance of each load component. A final design prototype was fabricated and successfully tested under vacuum with high power long RF pulses.